486  PHARMACEUTICAL  OBSERVATIONS  ON  BUCHTJ. 
the  infusion  to  eight  fluid  ounces,  and  then  dissolving  in  the  mixture  eight 
ounces  of  powdered  sugar  by  agitation."* 
Another  preparation,  called  "  The  Compound  Fluid  Extract  of 
Buchu"  has  been  prepared,  but  it  does  not  seem  to  have  the  odor 
or  taste  of  the  leaves  very  strongly  marked.  In  view  of  the  in- 
creasing popularity  and  demand  for  fluid  extracts,  both  among 
the  medical  profession  and  the  public  at  large,  on  account  of  the 
more  or  less  entire  absence  of  alcohol,  the  smallness  of  the  dose, 
and  the  more  certain  effects  of  the  medicine  ;  the  volatile  prin- 
ciples being  rarely  submitted  to  the  action  of  heat,  and  prepara- 
tions of  this  class  being  thus  more  perfect  representations  of 
the  drugs  employed  than  almost  any  other  ;  I  have  been  induced 
to  prepare  a  fluid  extract  of  buchu  that  should  possess  all  the 
above  advantages,  for  buchu  is  known  to  possess  valuable  remedial 
properties  which  have  been,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  very  much  laid 
aside  without  great  cause,  and  other  medicines  substituted  which 
are  less  certain.  The  following  is  the  formula  which  I  have  found 
most  successful  in  producing  a  perfect  preparation: 
Take  of  Buchu  in  coarse  powder,  ^viij. 
Ether,  fcfvi. 
Carbonate  of  potassa,  ^ss. 
Alcohol, 
Water,  of  each  a  sufficient  quantity. 
Add  a  dram  of  the  carbonate  of  potassa  to  the  powdered  leaves, 
then  the  ether  mixed  with  one  pint  of  the  alcohol ;  having  incor- 
porated them  thoroughly,  allow  them  to  macerate  twenty-four 
hours,  then  transfer  the  whole  to  a  percolator,  and  pour  on  diluted 
alcohol  until  a  pint  of  ethereal  liquor  is  obtained,  put  this  into  a 
suitable  vessel  and  allow  it  to  evaporate  spontaneously  until  re- 
duced to  four  fluid  ounces.  Upon  the  mass  in  the  percolator  pour 
on  water  mixed  with  one  fourth  its  bulk  of  alcohol,  and  holding 
the  remainder  of  the  carbonate  of  potassa  in  solution  until  the 
percolated  liquor  amounts  to  a  pint;  remove  the  dregs  and  express 
*[The  process  which  we  have  followed  for  several  years  past  is  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  original,  which  consists  in  substituting  diluted  alcohol  for 
water  in  the  latter  part  of  the  process  as  in  the  officinal  formula  for  the 
fluid  extract  of  valerian.  The  resulting  fluid  extract  is  rather  more  alco- 
holic than  the  original,  but  retains  more  of  the  oleoresinous  principles. — 
Editor.] 
